Wisconsin hunters likely will pay at least $147,000 in fines this year for baiting citations, assuming they follow trends set the past 15 years for violating laws on deer hunting’s most guilt-ridden tactic.

Hunters averaged 424.5 deer baiting/feeding violations from 2002 through 2016. They also paid a minimum of $2.19 million in baiting fines those years, with most violations occurring during November’s firearms deer season, and about half as many during its archery seasons.

Todd Schaller, the Department of Natural Resources’ chief warden, said the agency also has cited more turkey hunters for baiting in recent years but didn’t have specific numbers. Turkey baiting is illegal statewide. Schaller added that bear-baiting violations remain low. Bear baiting is allowed April 15 through the end of bear season, which was Oct. 10.

Deer baiting and feeding is banned in 30 Wisconsin counties. Hunters and wildlife watchers in the other 42 counties cannot spread more than two gallons of bait, which usually consists of shell corn or fallen apples. Fines cost $343.50 for exceeding the bait limit up to five gallons, $544.50 for using five to 25 gallons, and $745.50 for anything over 25 gallons. Feeding violations cost a flat $343.50.

DNR reports show that baiting violations peaked at 665 citations in 2009 after climbing steadily much of that decade. The DNR banned deer baiting statewide in 2002 after discovering chronic wasting disease in deer west of Madison, but the Legislature partially restored the controversial tactic in 2003 and set the two-gallon limit.

That law bans baiting in counties where the DNR finds CWD, as well as in adjoining counties within 10 miles of the discovery. However, the Legislature and Gov. Scott Walker relaxed the restrictions in August by restoring deer baiting and feeding if the DNR fails to find more CWD cases in the county within three years of the initial discovery.

The DNR issued a news release Wednesday reminding hunters that deer baiting/feeding remains illegal in Vilas, Oneida and Forest counties because CWD was discovered in a buck killed at the Three Lakes Trophy Ranch in Oneida County in December 2015. Six more deer at the facility have since tested positive, including five in autumn 2016.

The DNR reported a relatively low 172 baiting/feeding violations during 2002’s statewide ban. Violations fell to 125 in 2003 when the two-gallon limit took effect in counties outside the state’s CWD zone. By 2004, however, violations rebounded to 170, and then jumped 79 percent to 304 in 2005.

In 2006, the DNR issued 455 baiting/feeding citations, including 299 during the state’s nine-day gun-deer season in November. Schaller’s predecessor, Randy Stark, compiled a nearly 10,000-word, 16-page single-spaced report on the issue in December 2006 to supplement his annual 30-page gun-season report.

Stark wrote: “No single issue in my 23 years as a conservation warden has consumed as many pages of warden (reports) like baiting and feeding issues have this year.”

Even so, baiting/feeding violations hit 610 in 2007 and a record 665 in 2009 after lawmakers dismissed Stark’s concerns. After falling to 376 in 2012, violations increased four straight years, and hit 572 in 2016.

Schaller said few violators feign ignorance of the law. “Generally, they know the two-gallon limit, or they know they’re in an area where it’s illegal,” he said. “They’ll risk it because they think they won’t get caught. We’re not writing tickets for someone using 2½ gallons. They’re over the limit by significant amounts.”

Most violators spread out the bait to disguise excessive bait dumps. Few use mechanical, automatic or gravity-fed feeders, all of which are illegal. The DNR has issued 192 citations for using such high-capacity feeders the past 15 years, or roughly 13 annually. The record was 32 citations in 2007.

Wardens, however, have noticed an uptick in camouflaged PVC-tube feeders, which violators strap onto trees to blend in. The devices are topped by a large food reservoir, which keeps the feeding bin at the tree’s base forever full.

Most deer-baiting violators get discovered through hotline tips, citizen complaints or field-checks when encountering a DNR warden. Tips involving illegal baiting are often precise and easily investigated. After all, some photos of bait sites include imprinted GPS coordinates.

The tipster’s motivations are more basic. “Some of the complaints are motivated by disease concerns, but a lot more are mostly about fairness,” Schaller said. “Someone notices a neighbor putting out 30 gallons of bait, and his two gallons can’t compete, so he calls it in.

“In other cases, we’ll notice bait in a vehicle’s back end when contacting someone in the field. We’ll keep asking questions if something doesn’t seem right. Typically, we’ll get authorization to go back with the hunter to the bait site. Most willingly show us. They know they messed up.”

Which reminds me of Stark’s 2006 report, which noted another curious thing about deer baiters: Few, if any, take pride in it. Stark reported an ironic, widespread lament by baiters as wardens wrote them citations: “I wish you would outlaw baiting.”

In fact, you’ll hear baiters claim they’re buying old apples and “deer corn” for their ailing father or feeble grandfather. And why wouldn’t they feel ashamed? They understand baiting/feeding reduces daylight deer activity, they know it increases the risks of wildlife diseases, and they concede it involves little woodsmanship. Even so, they keep dumping corn and apples at risk of stiff fines while wishing the DNR would make them do the right thing.

But the DNR holds no such power. That force rests with our lawmakers, who lack the necessary conscience to weigh such matters.

Patrick Durkin is a freelance writer who covers outdoors for USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin. Email him at patrickdurkin56@gmail.com.